3316.18
Severability.

(A)
Subject to division (B) of this section,
if any section or provision of this chapter, including any condition or
prerequisite to any action or determination thereunder, or if any act or
action, or part thereof, made or taken under this chapter, or any application
thereof, is for any reason held to be illegal or invalid, this illegality or
invalidity shall not affect the remainder thereof or any other section or
provision of this chapter, including any condition or prerequisite to any
action or determination thereunder, or any agreement, act or action, or part
thereof, made, entered into, or taken under this chapter, which shall be
construed and enforced and applied as if such illegal or invalid portion were
not contained therein, nor shall such illegality or invalidity or any
application thereof affect any legal and valid application thereof, and each
such section, provision, agreement, act, or action, or part thereof, shall be
considered to be effective, operative, made, and entered into or taken in the
manner and to the full extent permitted by law.

(B)
Division (A) of this section and section
1.50 of the
Revised Code are subject to the following exceptions:

(1)
It is the intention of the general
assembly that any act of the school district board authorized to be taken under
this chapter only with the consent or approval of the school district financial
planning and supervision commission would not have been authorized in the
absence of and is inseparable from such provision for consent or approval so
that if a provision for consent or approval by the commission under this
chapter is for any reason held to be illegal or invalid, the authorization of
the action that is subject to such consent or approval shall likewise be deemed
illegal or invalid and not to exist under this chapter.

(2)
To the extent that any act of the school
district which is authorized by law, other than this chapter, is conditioned by
this chapter upon, or is subjected to a prerequisite by this chapter as to, the
preparation, submission, or approval of, or consistency with, a financial
recovery plan, or as to consent to or approval by the commission of any such
act of the school district, if for any reason such condition or prerequisite is
held to be illegal or invalid, such act by the school district shall be deemed
to be and is hereby restricted, so that it may not be taken or done by the
school district until and unless the auditor of state, upon request of the
board of education of the school district, determines in writing that none of
the fiscal emergency conditions determined to exist pursuant to division (B) of
section 3316.03 of the Revised Code
continues to exist.

(3)
Divisions
(B)(1) and (2) of this section apply only to acts of the school district
occurring after a court has determined such illegality or invalidity and any
act of the school district prior thereto, and its binding effect prior or
subsequent to this determination, is not affected by the determination.

(C)
The provisions of
this chapter granting authority to the commission are intended to provide a
thorough and efficient system of education throughout the state and are further
intended to provide better security for holders of debt obligations of the
school district. These provisions shall be liberally construed to achieve the
state public policy and the purposes stated and provided for by this chapter.

(D)
Any act of the commission
under this chapter relating to debt obligations issued or incurred by a school
district shall be presumed to be valid and for all purposes shall be
conclusively valid unless in an appropriate court action in which the
commission is duly made a party it is shown by clear and convincing evidence
that no basis existed upon which the act could have been sustained under the
law and that the commission's act was grossly arbitrary; provided that no such
action may affect the reliability and conclusiveness of certifications and
approvals by the commission as provided in section
3316.14 of the Revised Code.

(E)
Any action or proceeding
bringing into question the interpretation, legality, or validity of any
provision of this chapter, the existence or authority, or the legality or
validity of any act, of the commission, or of any action taken under this
chapter, is a matter of great public interest to the state and shall be
advanced on the docket of the court and expedited to final determination.